John Brandon
Contributor
Twitter Spaces was always a bit suspect. It was basically a Clubhouse clone where you could hold an audio-only conversation with others. During the pandemic, I was a major fan of Clubhouse and wondered why Twitter Spaces even existed. Then I realized holding these conversations was mostly a reaction to how we can’t hold real events and talk in person.
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By comparison, presidential announcements like this usually result in incredible interest — usually in the millions. The Twitter Spaces chat with Elon Musk and Governor DeSantis resumed after stamping down the bugs but not before many users tried to join, hearing nothing but crickets.
You would think the Twitter team would have been ready for massive interest and prepared the Twitter Spaces servers to handle a high user count.
The reason this is all happening has more to do with the person leading the company, not just the technology.
Here’s why. Technical infrastructure is something that hinges on server capacity, the number of engineers you have ready to deal with problems, and cold hard cash. Anyone who has run a website knows this. If you have a few thousand users, you don’t have to worry about capacity issues. When you attract a massive audience, you have to be ready to pay for the infrastructure, the tech support, and a speedy server to handle the new interest.
My guess is that Elon Musk has been cutting corners left and right, not worrying too much about capacity problems or hosting large-scale events. It’s almost as though he expects the company to crash and burn before he can rebuild it into something new.
This is not the path forward, though.
The Twitter brand has survived quite a bit. Controversy is one thing; when the app doesn’t deliver what was promised, that’s when you have to start worrying.
Contributor
FORBES
May 27, 2023
Imagine a product where the only way to make it work is if you limit how many people can use it.
That was the case this week when Governor Ron DeSantis took to Twitter Spaces to announce his presidential run. Initially, about 500,000 had connected, but after about 21 minutes, the server crashed and the Space had to be restarted.
According to one report, it was only when the user count was limited to about 250,000 that the stream started working again.
Other reports noted that as many as 600,000 had attempted to join, and ultimately only about 161,000 actually heard the live audio chat.
Think of how this would work with other products like the Apple iPhone.
Sure, you can buy one, but if Apple told us there was a limit on how many people could connect in your city at one time, we’d balk. Or how about a new minivan? It works great for your family as long as you don’t have more than one or two kids.
At this stage in the Twitter lifecycle, I’m not surprised by the hiccups. Musk has reportedly fired many of his employees, including many who disagree with him.
May 27, 2023
Imagine a product where the only way to make it work is if you limit how many people can use it.
That was the case this week when Governor Ron DeSantis took to Twitter Spaces to announce his presidential run. Initially, about 500,000 had connected, but after about 21 minutes, the server crashed and the Space had to be restarted.
According to one report, it was only when the user count was limited to about 250,000 that the stream started working again.
Other reports noted that as many as 600,000 had attempted to join, and ultimately only about 161,000 actually heard the live audio chat.
Think of how this would work with other products like the Apple iPhone.
Sure, you can buy one, but if Apple told us there was a limit on how many people could connect in your city at one time, we’d balk. Or how about a new minivan? It works great for your family as long as you don’t have more than one or two kids.
At this stage in the Twitter lifecycle, I’m not surprised by the hiccups. Musk has reportedly fired many of his employees, including many who disagree with him.
Twitter Spaces was always a bit suspect. It was basically a Clubhouse clone where you could hold an audio-only conversation with others. During the pandemic, I was a major fan of Clubhouse and wondered why Twitter Spaces even existed. Then I realized holding these conversations was mostly a reaction to how we can’t hold real events and talk in person.
You may opt out any time. By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
By comparison, presidential announcements like this usually result in incredible interest — usually in the millions. The Twitter Spaces chat with Elon Musk and Governor DeSantis resumed after stamping down the bugs but not before many users tried to join, hearing nothing but crickets.
You would think the Twitter team would have been ready for massive interest and prepared the Twitter Spaces servers to handle a high user count.
The reason this is all happening has more to do with the person leading the company, not just the technology.
Here’s why. Technical infrastructure is something that hinges on server capacity, the number of engineers you have ready to deal with problems, and cold hard cash. Anyone who has run a website knows this. If you have a few thousand users, you don’t have to worry about capacity issues. When you attract a massive audience, you have to be ready to pay for the infrastructure, the tech support, and a speedy server to handle the new interest.
My guess is that Elon Musk has been cutting corners left and right, not worrying too much about capacity problems or hosting large-scale events. It’s almost as though he expects the company to crash and burn before he can rebuild it into something new.
This is not the path forward, though.
The Twitter brand has survived quite a bit. Controversy is one thing; when the app doesn’t deliver what was promised, that’s when you have to start worrying.
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
John Brandon is a well-known journalist who has published over 15,000 articles on social media, technology, leadership, mentoring, and many other topics. Before starting his writing career in 2001, he worked as an Information Design Director at Best Buy Corporation. Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnbrandonmn
John Brandon is a well-known journalist who has published over 15,000 articles on social media, technology, leadership, mentoring, and many other topics. Before starting his writing career in 2001, he worked as an Information Design Director at Best Buy Corporation. Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnbrandonmn
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